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Meghan Markle will soon regret ghosting her father

At this point, if I were advising Thomas Markle, I’d sit him down and be blunt:

“Look, Gramps. I don’t think your cunning plan is working. The more you run your yap, the more you’re pushing Meghan away.”

He’d look at me and nod sadly. Then he’d ask, “So what should I do?”

And, yeah, that’s when I’d have to resign because … I GOT NOTHING.

All I know is this broken-down man is breaking my heart.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Thomas, father of estranged daughter Meghan Markle, said he’s never met his son-in-law, Prince Harry. His daughter, he says, has “ghosted” him. He sends texts, he mails cards, he tries to call and, in return, royal radio silence. All he wants now, he says, is a photo of his new grandchild.

“I would like them to send me a picture of Archie so I can frame it and put it on my wall beside the one of Meghan,” he told the paper. “Isn’t that what any grandfather would want? I’d love to know if he’s got the famous Markle nose.”

Ugh. I don’t know why that image makes me so sad. But I’m tearing up, people. Maybe it’s because I’m a father and I see the special bond between my twin daughters and their doting grandparents; my grandfathers died before I was born. Maybe it’s because the older you get, the more you realize the importance of family, the importance of staying close to those who’ve known you the longest.

Friends come and go. Relationships blossom with no warrantees.

But family should be forever.

Now, I already know what some of you are going to say, mostly because you emailed me last time the Markle Melodrama was a subject. You’re going to say, “Hey, idiot! Meghan doesn’t owe anyone anything! These Markle lunatics have gone out of their way to disrupt her new life! She made a brutal decision to ditch her old family to protect her new family! If they’re going to condemn her in the press and on social media, why should she partake in this toxic sideshow?”

Those are all good points.

But they completely miss the point — at least when it comes to her dad.

Look, I’m not defending much of what Thomas says and does. This guy is like watching someone try to mow a lawn with a sewing machine. Staging paparazzi photos before the royal wedding? Beyond idiotic. Using the British press as a proxy in a desperate attempt to get Meghan’s attention? Self-defeating. Even in this most recent interview with the Daily Mail, Mr. Markle demonstrates he is his own worst enemy. He calls his Meghan and Harry “hypocrites” for using private jets. He claims Meghan lied when she said she paid her way through college; he footed the bills. There are wince-inducing passages in which he sounds less like a forlorn father and more like a sworn enemy. It’s bonkers and it is needless.

But it’s also proof of a dad in deep pain.

Is this Markle Family Drama now more exhausting than a triathlon? Yup. Is it more tedious than watching a cycle of laundry spin around a glass-door dryer? Indeed. Have Meghan’s half-siblings, Thomas Jr. and Samantha, showcased jarring hostility toward their sister that is either steeped in jealousy or resentment? Yes.

I honestly don’t get the royal family. Even with its rich history of dysfunction, are you seriously telling me there isn’t anyone inside Buckingham Palace who can fix this mess? No one can FedEx an 8x10 of Archie to Thomas and begin the truce process? No one can pick up the phone and sort out the grievances on both sides?

Mark my words: Meghan Markle should not be leaving her dad on the cutting room floor. It will one day haunt her. The man is 75. He has a history of cardiac illness. Time is of the essence.

That is, if the essence is reconciliation.

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So dear Duchess of Sussex: I encourage you to take the high road and help your father navigate his way back into your life. Give him the GPS co-ordinates and the marching orders. You could end this public melodrama with one private gesture. You could end the heartache. You could burn this circus tent.

Help Thomas once again be the father you fondly remember.

And help yourself avoid the crushing guilt that now seems increasingly inevitable.

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